Embedding a deep emotional dimension, employee recognition has a profound impact on employees as more than a half of them declare they want to receive more recognition from their managers, to feel valued at work. That’s why employee recognition has become increasingly important for executives and HR leaders who want to meet their business objectives and improve team performance with engaged employees, to create an environment where employees can feel free to share positive words of encouragement regularly.

Sometimes, the term “recognition” is used interchangeably with “appreciation”, but they have slightly different meanings. Appreciation is all about gratitude and admiration of someone, while recognition is about formal acknowledgment or giving special attention to something.

Employee recognition can come in many forms, most of them as rewards, and that’s why these programs are also called “Rewards and Recognition Programs”, but lately, more and more companies arrange innovative recognition programs such as a point system, a social wall, reward nominations, and so on to make all the employees feel admired.

Unfortunatelly, some employers have certain misconceptions about employee recognition programs. Due to this prejudice, leaders do not invest sufficient time or resources into them. Here are few of the most common misconceptions about it:

1. Money is the only motivational factor

2. Recognition programs are time-consuming

3. Appreciation programs are expensive

4. These programs are only for top performers

5. Recognition is for people who don’t receive a bonus

Organizations should realize that recognition programs don’t have to be expensive or complicated. There are numerous ways to recognize employees, and in this article we tried to dive deeper into the subject, to help you see the importance and the impact of having a strategic employee recognition program within your organization.

Positive reinforcement through employee recognition programs can come from various directions, and the best programs utilize a wide range of opportunities. Some gestures of recognition are grand at boosting short-term motivation, while others are better at promoting long-term commitment.

One of the most common types of employee recognition is top-down praise, split in two main sub-types: manager-to-employee and company-to-employee. Being praised by someone who has authority can be very gratifying for employees.

Peer-to-peer or social recognition is also a form of recognition. It can come from everyone who works within the company. Managers might recognize one another, employees might praise someone else on their team, and so forth.

In terms of how and where, there are also different types of recognition: verbal or written, and public or private.

Verbal appreciation can be beneficial for sharing an appreciative thought in the moment. On the other hand, written appreciation can be valued for a long time to come. Taking the time to write and send out a thank you note to an employee is powerful.

Public praise is giving praise in a way for more than just the recipient to hear. Private praise is the praise you give to someone one-on-one or behind closed doors. Private praise can be strategic and timely, which makes for a great experience for your employees.

There are different criteria by which employees can be praised, and, implicitly, various programs can be set up on these criteria. Some of them recognize employees performance or their efforts to accomplish business objectives, and others may laud milestone achieving or promoting corporate values.

Performance-Based Recognition is the most common mong them, the perfect way to show employees how much company cares and appreciates them for a well done job. Rewarding for performance seems to be a high motivator for the majority of the employees.

Effort-Based Rewards recognize employees who put in effort daily to reach their goals, instead of recognizing employees who meet a quarterly goal, for exemple. Permormance is not always easy to reach but it doesn’t mean that employees are not trying. This attempt, this effort must be praised, in order to keep employees motivated.

Milestone-Based Recognition might not be as closely related to the work employees do every day, but the company should never miss a chance to show them how much it cares. And the opportunities are not a few, as the employees are always accomplishing various milestones with the company, from their first day to work anniversaries or even birthdays.

Values-Based Recognition programs can also have a huge impact. One of the best parts about this type of recognition is that managers can tie it to the company values. This allows to understand how employees are living company’s values in their everyday professional lives.

Going through work days without proper recognition can feel isolating and discouraging. However, even the smallest amount of recognition can make all the difference to employees. The benefits of carrying out a strategic program of employees recognition are huge and reflect on almost every aspect of the business, regradless the sector of activity. We list below a top 10 that we hope will help you decide in favor of the development of an employee recognition program within your organization.

1. Build a Positive Work Environment

2. Reduce Employee Turnover and Improve Retention

3. Foster Company Loyalty

4. Improve Employee Engagement

5. Boost Productivity

6. Improve Morale and Employee Happiness (well-being and mental health)

7. Helps with Recruiting Top Talent

8. Alignment Through Core Values

9. Helps Avoid Burnout

10. Better Customer Experience

If you want to increase retention, boost profitability, attract top talents, improve customer experience, then you simply cannot do without an employee recognition program. Employee recognition is therefore vital.

In order to move from a rigid, careless organizational culture to a social and agile one and to stimulate the growth of performance, Co-Factor facilitates the operationalization of employee recognition programs through an innovative digital platform. The Co-Factor platform is a real ramp for increasing employee engagement and boost performance. With the Co-Factor software, the degree of employee engagement can be increased and measured, specific employee recognition programs and strategies can be created to track employee experience and job satisfaction, the organizational culture can be monitored and the results of employee surveys can be analyzed, so managers can see a clear picture of employee morale, engagement and performance.